MH Ghost Whisperer Vs WM Flash

[Rolex]

I've managed to accumulate the Mountain Hardware Hooded Jacket and The Western Mountaineering Flash Jacket (Not Hooded) at the same time and would like your guys input on the pros and cons vs each.

The Flash seems puffier with both hanging side by side leading me to believe it may the warmer of the two.

I'm about to take a short hike up the local hill behind the house in blustery 33 degree weather this morning to try out the Ghost Whisperer first but it sure seems thin.

If you had your choice (ONLY BETWEEN THESE TWO) which would you have in your pack for New England Winter weather?
Thanks,
Rolex

[SteelCut]

Both of these are ultralight jackets. (I have a Ghost Whisperer.) Although you want a choice between just those two, I would use neither for true winter conditions and would opt for something else.

[mattjv89]

I think the WM jacket is warmer, they say 3 oz. of 850 fill on their website. Though Mountain Hardwear doesn't publish the fill weight of the Ghost Whisperer I doubt it's 3 oz. on a jacket that only weighs 7.7. So between the two I'd go with the WM jacket, though I echo the sentiment that I would pick neither for full on winter in VT. Good luck testing them out today, I'm 50 miles north and it is fuh-reeeezing! well relative to what it has been anyway.. Going to take a little bit to get used to freezing temps and whipping wind again.

[Violent Green]

The WM is the warmer of the two as it has a little more down with fewer down filled chambers. With that said, they won't be far from each other just due to the design. For temps below about 35F, each would need to be coupled with a fleece or similar.

Ryan

[Just Bill]

Do you want the hood or not? Depending on your style and other layers sometimes a hood makes a massive difference in perceived warmth if not actual.

I sorta agree with others on these pieces.
They don't stand alone by any means- their role in your wardrobe is to replace a traditional fleece layer, roughly a Polartec 200 (North Face Denali).

That said, I like them as a layer in the rest of the system. If you are hanging around more than moving, I agree they might be bumped in truly (zeroish) temps. With a merino base layer, a Cap 2, Cap 4, then (montbell in my case) with a good WPB shell I feel pretty good to around zero.

Not everyone likes the "lots of small layers" approach though and would go with a base layer or two- then a heavier down jacket before the shell.

It's really a matter of your style and intended use- those are great pieces, but most don't think of them as "down" jackets- just a really light weight/low bulk alternative to traditional insulation layers.
If they were free/cheap- I'd make use of them that way. If you bought them and you want a "bomber" down jacket those are too light.

[Dogwood]

Which yr's version of the MH Ghost Whisperer do you have? A few slight design changes have ocurred in various versions. For example, MH is now using their Q-Shield treated down an improvement over the untreated down they were using especially if using for wetter or multi day winter use. I bought one of the older versions for my nephew that I used for a bit. I liked that it also had a hood and waistline hem drawstring which the QuickFlash doesn't have. The amt of down is not that far off from the WM QuickFlash. These two feature alone when comparing to the QuickFlash will provide more warmth. NO, amt of down isn't the entire story when compring warmth of down jackets!

I suppose you are referring to the WM QuickFlash jacket? I had the WM Flash vest, an older, I think 2007-08 version . I used it mainy as a very toasty middle layer. Since I use vests as outer pieces too I prefer vests w/ hand pockets which my WM Flash didn't have. The QuickFlash jacket has hand pockets though very toasty ones at that. I think the WM QuickFlash has a nice lengthy tail that my Flash Vest also had. My vest was extremely warm for the wt, lofted excellently even after a few yrs of service, and packed down into a navel orange sized ball.


We're getting into the nitty gritty but both pieces given the few slightly different features IMO warmth is going to be overall similar based on a side by side comparison. If the WM QuickFlash had a hood I would give the nod to it for warmth. BUT, since I've never noticed anyone who routinely wears a down jacket totally by itself in winter this is somewhat meaningless because what you layer it with, accessorize(gloves, hat, etc), etc are ultimately going to affect how warm you are - NOT one jacket.

But

[Dogwood]

JB and Violet Green are saying the same thing. They got their posts in as I was posting the same thing.